


our children, taken

by Junnieevee



Series: sometimes a family can be a bunch of incarnations of yourself and a wolf (who's also an incarnation) [12]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe where the chain lives in the same time and the same hyrule, Family Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Local Old Man joins tiny preadolescent in search of their kidnapped loved ones, Parent Time (Linked Universe), Time (Linked Universe) Angst, Time (Linked Universe) Needs a Hug, Time (Linked Universe) is a Good Parent, Time Wild and Twilight are brothers, Warriors Linkle Wind and Aryll are all siblings, Wind (Linked Universe) Angst, Wind (Linked Universe) Has a Bad Time, Wind too, is that even a tag?, more or less, that's basically it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29863116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junnieevee/pseuds/Junnieevee
Summary: He met Wind only a week after they took the Pup and the Cub away. A lonely, inexperienced child who shared his fate and goal. Just a kid who lost his little sister, carrying a sword and a shield. It was easy to let him tag along.Two months ago people began whispering how young hylian girls and boys with blonde hair were being kidnapped in other villages and Castle Town. Malon was worried about it, worried that some day, one of those masked psychos everyone was talking about would take away the boys, never to be seen again.
Relationships: Time & Wind (Linked Universe)
Series: sometimes a family can be a bunch of incarnations of yourself and a wolf (who's also an incarnation) [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1702714
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	our children, taken

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Sooooo, I wrote this some time ago, but didn't want to publish it before deciding what to do with this piece, whether to make it a series or a stand-alone, and I decided for the last one after starting school and obsessing over a new game XD I do plan to write more of this AU in the future, so please tell me what you think of it! I'm also open to suggestions uwu
> 
> For the time being, enjoy!

“Hey, Old Man. What’s your family like?”

It rained a lot in Hyrule, lately. 

Time tore his eyes from the cloudy, gray sky above their heads, to look down at the kid behind him. A tiny cave (that was more like a big hole in the wall of a huge rock, honestly) served as their temporary refuge to wait until the rain stopped, while Wind tried to make some fire on his own, still unsuccessful despite the two hours they had been there. 

They may spend the night in this place, if the rain continued.

Time walked away from the entrance of their improvised shelter, and sat down by Wind’s side, observing his attempts to create at least a tiny spark with two rocks and a handful of twigs. 

“Stop calling me that.” he said, instead of answering his question.

The kid rolled his eyes, going back to work without looking at him. “You are an old man, accept it.”

“I’m twenty five years old. I’m still young.” he replied calmly, almost indifferent to his words.

“I’m twelve, I’m younger, and you’re like, a decade and half older, so that makes you an old man.” 

“That’s only thirteen years of difference.”

“And  _ that’s  _ a lot!”

“When you are my age you’ll see it is not.”

“See? You are already talking like an old man.”

Time scoffed, slumping against the wall of cold rock behind him. This place was too small, even the single thought of staying there made him uncomfortable, but being dry and sleeping in an awkward position was better than sleeping out in the rain, he guessed. He got distracted by Wind’s sudden cheer of victory, finding a small flame licking the twigs at the middle of the cave. 

“You did it.” he said, genuinely surprised.

“Of course I did!” Wind boasted. “Now we won’t be cold!”

“We should extinguish it though.”

The kid stared at him like he just offended him and all his family with that sentence. “But why?!”

Time pointed up with a finger, his expression stoic and emotionless as ever. “This place is too small,” he began. “Fire needs oxygen to stay alive, but so do we.”

Wind pouted, glaring at his tiny fire in front of him. “But it took me so long…”

“We can die asphyxiated then.” he stated nonchalantly. 

The kid glared at him now, pouting harder and crossing his arms over his chest. His big dark eyes shifted between Time and the fire, and after a couple of minutes in silence, Wind growled loudly and stepped down in the burning twigs, destroying his tiny bonfire.

“You don’t even know if that’s how it works.” he scoffed at the end, plopping down almost angrily. 

“No, not exactly, but now we won’t die in our sleep.”

“We’re sleeping here?”

“You can sleep out there if you want, but I won’t be making you soup if you get sick.” he said those words more harshly than intended, and regretted doing so when the kid didn’t answer anything back.

He subtly glanced at him, and felt his heart sink at the sight of Wind’s eyes tearing up, his nose now red and scrunched up in an attempt to stop tears from falling off his face. He had done worse commentaries than that last one, and it was rare for Wind to cry at all. Not knowing what to do- or think for that matter, and feeling troubled, he heard Malon’s scolding voice on his head (she was scary even when she was not around), and cleared his throat up.

“What , uh… what is your family like?”

The boy stopped making weird faces to not cry and stared up at him, glassily, surprised eyes piercing his soul. Time sighed and brushed his blonde hair off his face, feeling it all frizzy and bristly thanks to the rain. He took off his hair tie and undid the ponytail resting at the nape of his neck, tying it up again to have something to do as the kid composed himself.

“I…” he began quietly. He could barely hear him with the sound of the rain in the background. “I have my grandma and…” he sniffed once, cleaning his face with the sleeve of his blue lobster shirt. “My two older siblings, and a little sister.”

Time nodded, finishing his ponytail and listening to him.

“My grandma… she makes the best soup in the world. It’s awesome when we’re sick and I…” he sighed, drawing his legs near his torso to hug them against him, hiding half of his face behind his arms. “I just miss her.”

Now Time felt even worse. For a second there he saw another kid, still blonde but with a different hairstyle, with sharp blue eyes and wearing green clothes and a green hat, with a tiny blue fairy nestled in the space between his neck and shoulder, silently waiting for the sky to clear up, unable to sleep thanks to the stalfos and stalchildren he heard roaming outside, fearing they would somehow find him.

“How… about your siblings?” he talked, biting his tongue afterwards to stop thinking about the past. This wasn't about him anymore.

Immediately, Wind chuckled at his question. “They’re so dumb, the both of them.” he giggled. “Warriors is the Captain of the Royal Guard but he’s always hiding from women he dated, and Linkle can’t read a map right to save her life.” he smiled. “My little sister the other hand, is the smartest girl in the entire world!”

Time too smiled at that. “I think everyone thinks that of their little sisters.” he wondered how Saria was doing these days. She wasn’t exactly his little sister but… he frowned before he could complete that thought, realizing something. “Wait, your big brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard?”

“Yes!” he nodded proudly, lowering his legs to sit properly. “Half-brother, anyway.”

“Huh.” he blinked, surprised. “Now that you mention it… you two do look somewhat alike.” 

He wasn’t sure what it was though. Warriors’ eyes were cobalt blue, and the shape of his face was entirely different but… there was just something there. Maybe the nose?

“Wait, you know him?” it was Wind’s turn to be surprised. “How?”

“I used to be part of the Royal Guard as well.” he shrugged, like it was not a big deal. “Well, kind of.”

“Woah.” Wind’s eyes shone with a new light in them, not because of tears anymore, thankfully. “Tell me about that!”

“I think that’s a story for another day.” 

“Ehhhhh!?” Wind exclaimed. “That’s not fair! You can’t leave me hanging like that!”

“I haven’t even told my wife about that story, let alone a little brat like you.” he smirked at the kid’s frustration.

But then Wind brightened up. “Aha! So you have a wife!” Time blinked dumbly at that, deadpanning and swearing under his breath. Wind giggled like crazy. “I got you! Now, tell me more!”

Time rolled his eyes, but still opened his mouth to answer. Only Hylia knows how determined a kid can be to get answers to his questions. “What do you want to know, exactly?”

Wind tapped his cheek thoughtfully, before giving him a wide grin. “Everything! Tell me about your family.”

Honestly, this brat…

The older blonde rubbed the back of his neck, thinking how to begin. “I live on a ranch, with my wife, my father-in-law and… my two younger brothers.”

“Aaaaand?” 

Time scoffed with a small grin. “Her name is Malon. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met- and I know Princess Zelda herself.” Wind made a playful grimace at that and Time chuckled. “Her father is Talon, and he’s rather… clumsy...” then he proceeded to tell him about the time he had to take a cucco’s egg all the way up to the castle just to wake him up, and how he met Malon in the first place. He told him about Lon Lon Ranch and Epona, and the rest of their horses. About how his fiancée (at that time) lifted a cow by herself to help her give birth. They laughed for a while, and the mood lightened slightly, until Wind asked him things again.

“How about your brothers?”

Time sobered up at the mention of them, letting out a deep and long sigh. 

“They’re the people I’m searching for.”

Time stopped being an adventurer long ago. He hoped he would leave that life of traveling around behind, but duty called again, and not because of someone else this time. Two months ago people began whispering how young hylian girls and boys with blonde hair were being kidnapped in other villages and Castle Town. Malon was worried about it, worried that some day, one of those masked psychos everyone was talking about would take away the boys, never to be seen again. Of course, Time eased her mind, and they forgot about the subject until a month later when masked assassins attacked Ordon Village and Lon Lon Ranch with fire and malice-infected monsters. Ordon Village was a human village, the only hylians around were him and his family, so they became an easy target for them.

He met Wind only a week after they took the Pup and the Cub away. A lonely, inexperienced child who shared his fate and goal. Just a kid who lost his little sister, carrying a sword and a shield. It was easy to let him tag along.

“Wild is the youngest of us.” he began suddenly, after a short silence. “We found him when he was four, alone in the woods. He only knew his name and the way he came from, but when he turned six, he already could fight a boar and win.”

“Is Wild… really his name?” Wind asked **,** hesitant, likely not wanting to touch upon a sore topic by accident.

Time chuckled under his breath. “No, it’s not. It’s the same as you and me. Link is a popular name, you see.” Wind nodded at that. “I called him that to keep things from getting too confusing. We already had Twilight, and with me we make three Links in the family.”

“A whole chain!”

Time scoffed. “Oh my Goddess kid…” the younger blond giggled to his own pun. 

“Why Wild, though? And is Twilight your other brother?”

“We… didn’t want to become attached.” he sighed, answering one question at the time. “ _ I  _ didn’t want to. We were thinking about searching for his parents but they, long story short, didn’t want him back, and after some time living with us, the name just stuck. He likes it, so we didn’t change it.” he grinned slightly. “It also fits his personality.” 

He remained silent for another short time, before getting to the next question. “And yes, Twilight is the middle brother. One of our neighbors found him on the road, again, alone. No one else could really have a child in their house so Talon offered himself.” Time shook his head with a fond smile. “And he had already welcomed me at the ranch. He’s a really good man.”

Wind crossed his arms over his chest, musing over all the information he just received. “People… abandon their children a whole lot.” that was his conclusion.

Time shrugged. “Not everyone has the resources to raise a child, sadly.”

“Even when they have them, they keep doing it.” he frowned, and then proudly lifted his chin up, a petulant expression taking place on his face. “But grandmas never do!”

If it weren’t by the sad undertone of that couple of sentences, Time would be laughing. He just kept the smile on his face, and answered Wind’s next questions, feeling himself opening up more to the kid. In turn, he asked about Aryll, and the boy was absolutely elated to tell him about her. They ended up sleeping against each other, as the cold of the night became too much to endure it by themselves and the couple of blankets they owned. It reminded Time of the nights Twilight would wake up scared, sheepishly asking him to spend the night at his room, and maybe, for the way Wind unconsciously curled up closer to him in the middle of the night, the kid surely was reminded of his older brother too. The man fell asleep with many questions of his own; why would Warriors let his little brother make a journey like this? Where are they keeping Wild and Twilight at now? Were they safe? Were they with Wind’s sister? Were they… alive?

He ceased the thought as soon as it came to his mind. Of course they were alive. They had to be. They had to come back to Malon and get a hug from her and Talon, they had to come back and have a nice meal with Uli, Rusl and Colin. Ilia, the poor girl, needed to see them again. 

Time would get his boys back, no matter what, and would take revenge for all the pain those masked fuckers caused. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all liked it! And once again, this work wouldn't have been possible without my beautiful beta @Roaming_Numerals!!! I finally posted it Roam! :DD Thank you!!!!!!!!


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